The prior art has adopted a number of approaches in attempts to reduce the fat and cholesterol content of prepared meat products. One such approach is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,023,104 wherein the desired results are obtained by simply extending conventional products through the addition of crystallite aggregates of cellulose; the cellulose being inert, the resulting product has less of each ingredient of the natural product. U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,515, in another approach, prepares low-fat meat products by combining high levels of skimmed milk or whole milk with comminuted lean meat. A low-cholesterol sausage analog of the ground meat type using egg white as the heat-denaturable binder system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,134.
In another aspect of the prior art, meat analogs, such as bacon and sausage analogs, have been prepared by preparing separate phases, one for the fat phase and a second lean meat phase and by then combining these phases to provide a completed product. The intent here is to prepare analogs of the respective lean and fat portions of the natural meat product and to then combine them. In the case of bacon, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,164, two separate phases are prepared, joined together by layering, and the layered mass is subsequently heat-set to form the final product. According to the patent, the fat phase analog is an aqueous matrix of a heat-coagulable protein from the group consisting of egg albumen and blood albumen, together with a water-soluble film-forming component such as gelatin. The matrix has a fat component dispersed therein as fine droplets. The fat phase analog in the example contains about 24% water and about 47% oil, the balance being egg albumen, flavour, colour and 2% gelatin. The fat is dispersed in a continuous matrix containing the gelatin and heat-coagulable protein, and the stability of the fat dispersion depends upon the coagulating action of the heat employed during processing. EP 325 315 discloses the preparation of emulsion-type meat products by using a discontinuous phase consisting of particles of water and oil emulsion.
Other attempts have been made to prepare low-fat products utilizing technology which forces meat protein to bind increased quantities of water or which entail the use of cereal protein and/or carbohydrate extenders to act as agents which bind larger quantities of water in the product. The resulting products generally have an unacceptable texture and taste, being either overly wet or mealy in nature.
EP 298 561 discloses the preparation of edible dispersions containing at least two gelling agents which form at least two condensed phases. Said dispersions may for example be used in pates.
EP 437,360 discloses the use of chemically set (hence not thermo-reversible) alginate microspheres which may for examples be used in meat products.
EP 290,251 relates to thermo-irreversible aqueous gels containing xanthan gum and glucomannan gum. The gels may be used in food products.
EP 50,006 discloses thermo-irreversible gels containing a mixture of glucomannan and carrageenan. Again the product may be used in meat analogues.
It is an object of the present invention to provide meat products which have a desirable appearance, taste, texture and cooking performance, said meat products comprising at least two separate phases, one of these being a meat phase. The second phase is based on water in combination with gelling agents. In the rest of this specification this second phase will be referred to as the aqueous phase.
Meat products comprising a meat phase and an aqueous phase, often have one or more of the following problems:
(a) they are not of satisfactory succulence, for example after cooking; PA1 (b) they show unacceptable shrinkage upon cooking, caused by leaking out of the aqueous phase upon heating; PA1 (c) they are difficult to prepare, because the aqueous phase is difficult to incorporate into the meat phase; PA1 (d) they taste rubbery; PA1 (e) they have a less satisfactory appearance; PA1 (f) they require expensive ingredients and/or expensive processing routes for preparing the product; PA1 (g) they have a less satisfactory flavour; PA1 (h) the viscosity of the aqueous phase is not always favourable to the products and their uses, where they are incorporated; PA1 (i) the aqueous phase is not capable of satisfactory improvement of the textural properties of the product; PA1 (j) the aqueous phase does not release water on the point most appropriate (e.g. the aqueous phase releases water at cooking rather than during eating); PA1 (h) the product has a less satisfactory freeze-thaw stability.
Surprisingly it has been found that one or more of the above problems can be solved if a specific aqueous phase is used. Aqueous phases of the invention contain at least two gelling agents, each having a gel-melting temperature of more than 40.degree. C. and less than 150.degree. C. The resulting aqueous phase containing these gelling agents melting between 40.degree. C. and 150.degree. C. will hence be thermo-reversible. In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention the aqueous phase contains at least two gelling agents, said gelling agents forming at least two gelled (micro)phases and each of these gelling agents having a gel-melting temperature of at least 40.degree. C., and less than 150.degree. C.
Aqueous phases comprising the gelling agents as specified above generally have one or more of the following advantageous properties: They are elastic and/or rigid and/or they possess other useful physical properties at processing temperatures ( for example the temperature at which the material is reduced in size prior to combining with the meat phase) to allow good processing; they are viscous but not fully liquid at cooking temperatures ( for example 100.degree. to 130 .degree. C.) to avoid excessive leaking of the product upon cooking; they have a firm structure at eating temperatures (35.degree. to 50 .degree. C.) to provide a good succulent taste.
A further possible advantage of the invention is that the aqueous phase can be used as particulate material having sufficient physical strength to contribute to the structure and therefore of the perceived texture of the meat products in which they are incorporated. This is particularly relevant to those products in which some or all of the fat is present as adipose tissue and where part or all of this fat may be replaced by said aqueous phase.